Enjoyment of the
whispering winds, the zephyrs, the airstreams of the Sierra
Nevada and Great Basin areas of the United States in a
recreational vehicle.

Toilet Facilities: Most of the
toilets of Mexico
available to trailer people you will not like. Here are some
solutions: You can carry a chemical toilet in your trailer. Most
trailer supply companies have them. Both Airstream factories
also
have them. They are used universally in England and Europe. Some
people put chemicals in them, clorox, lime, even cologne. At
every
parking site a pit is dug into which you can empty these
containers,
as well as your garbage, night buckets, etc. Another good
solution is
to buy the paper garbage bags. It sound funny, but it works. In
many
places we can dig what we call "gopher holes" under our
trailers and use the trailer toilets.- Wally Byam from the
1957
Caravan to Mexico instructions

Sewage concerns for RV Living

Whether it was the nomadic
tribes or civilized
armies, where they camped and how long they stayed there
depended
upon waste management. Prior to the twentieth century, both
Indians
and solders on the march used the role model of the bear in the
woods. But a bear in the woods makes sure he has his own several
acres whereas the Indians and the soldiers often encamped in
groups
of tens or hundreds or thousands. Not wanting to camp on top of
someone else's waste tends to limit choices of camping spots.
And
being able to dispose of waste often limited the time that could
be
spent at any one spot.

Until the twentieth
century, waste disposal was
usually a matter of using any convenient hole in the ground or a
stream or river that could carry it away downstream. This works
OK as
long as the amount of waste being generated was rather small
compared
to land and rivers available to handle it. But, as populations
increased, the people downstream began to notice that wastes
were not
being effectively diluted and ameliorated by naturally occurring
processes so methods were developed to hasten those natural
processes
and keep the peace with downstream neighbors. Even today
backwoods
backpackers may encounter the results of too many people on
popular
trails.

To treat waste several
steps are involved. These
involve getting the waste to where it can be treated,
decomposing the
waste as much as possible, treating waste to prevent disease,
and
then disposing of whatever is left in as safe and inoffensive a
manner as possible. Most organic waste such as sewage is
decomposed
by bacterial action. Other waste is decomposed by processes such
as
oxidation (rusting) or sunlight exposure. Modern biochemistry is
working to expand the list of material that can be decomposed by
bacteria (eaten by bugs) and to speed up the decomposition
processes.

Pit and Vault toilets

Pit toilets, often called
latrines or outhouses,
are becoming less and less common as they are simply holes in
the
ground where liquid leaches into the soil and solids accumulate
until
it is necessary to cover them over and dig another hole
somewhere
else. These covered over outhouse remains from past
civilizations are
sometimes examined by archaeologists to learn about what people
in
another era ate and to discover the kinds of artifacts that were
thrown away or lost in the pit. The gopher holes for RV
campsites
prior to the 1970's (see picture above) were essentially pit
toilets.

Vault toilets are what you
are most likely to find
at campsites out in the boonies nowadays. These are like pit
toilets
but use a concrete or plastic vault instead of a hole in the
ground
to hold waste. This means that liquid waste is not allowed to
seep
into the soil. When these get full, the waste must be pumped out
and
taken somewhere for proper treatment and disposal. The black
water
systems in modern RV's are very similar to vault toilets in how
they
work.

Smelly holding tanks

Your RV holding tank should
not smell! It doesn't
need anything other than proper maintenance to achieve this
state,
either. Because it sounds rather strange that a tank full of
toilet
waste shouldn't smell, a lot of people have sold a lot of
treatments
to solve problems that would more properly be solved via good
maintenance.

Holding tank treatments
fall into two classes. One
is to kill off any bacteria in the tank and then perfume the
waste.
The other is to enhance the bacterial action and perfume the
waste.
The first, the one that kills off the bacteria, should be
avoided as
that treatment will not be kind to downstream handling of your
waste.
The second at least does no harm but really shouldn't be
necessary.
To avoid unpleasant odors from your holding tanks (both black
and
gray), try these hints:

Make sure that the tank
vents are open. These vent the holding tank to your RV roof.
They need to open into the tank above the water line, not be
plugged from debris, and not have leaks from damage or poor
joints.

Make sure your plumbing
traps are functioning and have fresh water in them. These
are loops under drains that hold water to keep gases from
coming back up the drain pipe.

Make sure there are no
leaks in your drain pipes and that all joints are properly
sealed.

Make sure that your
toilet waste seal is functioning properly and there is
nothing keeping it from fully closing (bits of toilet paper
are a common problem in seal seats). Vent the bathroom when
using the toilet.

When you drain your
tanks make sure to rinse them out thoroughly so any solids
are washed out and flushed and there is minimal waste left
in the tank.

Always keep enough
liquid in the tanks to cover any solid matter.

Don't get too picky.
There may be some smell outside but it shouldn't be very
noticeable or obnoxious. If it does, then dump the tanks and
clean and flush thoroughly and then check to make sure the
vents are working and there are no leaks.

One of the better (and
easier ways) to clean holding tanks is to dump in a bag of
crushed ice with a gallon or two of water. Take a tour
around the neighborhood to slosh things around for a few
minutes then dump.

The toilet tissue debate

After holding tank
chemicals, toilet tissue is
perhaps the next most hotly debated issue. The primary concern
is
about the introduction of non-organic solids to the holding
tank.
This is a good concern. You do not want to put things down your
toilet or down the drain that will make draining and flushing
the
tank any more difficult than it already is. However, most toilet
paper will readily disintegrate in water – put a sheet in a
glass of water for a few minutes and stir to see for yourself.
Usually the generic two ply cheap toilet paper works best and
there
is no reason no to include it with the organic waste in the
holding
tank.

What you should avoid is
using the toilet for a
general purpose trash receptacle. If it doesn't easily
disintegrate
in water, then don't let it get into your holding tank. The
other
side of this is to make sure that your tank gets enough water to
completely cover solid waste and do its thing on the solid
wastes.
Sometimes people get so conservation conscious on water use they
scrimp a bit too much on sanitation in the tank.

Blue totes

These really shouldn't be
blue as blue is the
color for potable water storage containers. But there are times
when
you need to empty your holding tanks and taking the entire rig
to a
dump station isn't a viable option. So a portable tank can be
handy
means to drain some waste from your main holding tanks and carry
it
to a proper disposal service. Most often the need is only to
dump the
gray water tanks which is a bit less offensive than having to
deal
with overfull black tanks.

Sanitation

The first concern on any
waste treatment
management effort in your RV is that of sanitation. Whether it
is
sewage or garbage or wash water or just plain trash you need to
make
sure that you prevent contamination, disease, and infestation.
Your
RV waste systems are designed to help you in this goal but it is
up
to you to make sure that these systems work as intended.

Keep all drain supplies
completely separated from
potable or drinking water supplies. This is why the water
faucets
near dump stations are labeled 'non potable water' – respect
that warning and take care of potable water needs after you have
dumped the tanks and cleaned up and moved on to where the water
is
considered potable.

Use precautions when
draining tanks to avoid
spills and exposure. Use easily cleaned or disposable gloves.
Make
sure fittings and pipes are defect free. Check connections
before
using them. Rigorously follow a procedure of checking valves and
opening or closing them only as needed. Have an emergency plan
for
how to clean up spills or personnel if necessary. Always wash up
after dumping tanks making a good soap and water hand wash the
last
thing you do in the process – even if you didn't forget your
gloves.

Courtesy to others

We are loosing
opportunities because there are
some folks who don't think about the consequences of their
actions on
others. Consider what happens when a rally closes and hundreds
of
rigs dump tanks at a convenient rest stop on the way home –
completely overloading that dump station's capabilities; or
those who
pull the tank valves on the way out of a campground and let the
waste
go where it will; or those who take the Arlo Guthrie (in Alice's
Restaurant) and figure one big pile is better than two little
ones;
or dump massive amounts of formaldehyde tank treatment into a
septic
system; or decide to camp out at the dump station and ignore the
line
behind them waiting a turn to dump tanks; or don't like to use
hoses
at the dump station and figure close enough is good enough;

Courtesy to others is
courtesy to ourselves. Do
what needs to be done to properly dispose of all of your waste –
either take it out with you or use designated waste disposal
sites or
containers. And don't misuse those resources that are made
available
for campers and Rvers. Don't dump your tanks into a vault
toilet.
Never dump any amount anywhere where it will leave any trace
after a
few minutes. Don't dump black water into receptacles labeled for
gray
water only.

Don't take the bear in the
woods approach. Act
like you are going to be back in that same spot with your kids
and
your pets tomorrow and do your part to make sure there will be
no
surprises to avoid or messes to clean up or un-pleasantries to
worry
about.

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Nevada AirstreamsEnjoyment of
the
whispering winds, the zephyrs, the airstreams of the Sierra
Nevada
and Great Basin areas of the United States is a personal,
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